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Anno Accademico 2017-18
Lingue e Letterature Moderne Europee e Americane – Traduzione Specialistica dei Testi – Filologie e Letterature Classiche e Moderne
Letteratura Inglese I/II 6 cfu Prof. Angelo Deidda
Modern Quests
Myth and Symbol in Modernist and Postmodernist Literature
From the beginning of twentieth century up to present times English literature has been largely influenced first by Modernist poetics, then by “Postmodernist” theory and practice. The course main concern is the acquisition of a general knowledge, and a textual critical understanding of Imagist, Modernist and Postmodernist poetics. However, the starting point of our criticalitinerary will be found inRomantic poetry, and in the aesthetic definitions of art and life in W. Pater and O. Wilde.
The selected texts under scrutiny will show the discordant aspects of the above mentioned poetics but will also highlight what they have in common, notably their inclination to build a narrative − in prose or verse − pivoting around a series of fragmented units rather than a continuous flow of narration.
Primary texts
1. Handouts (pp. 1-24)
close reading (detailed understanding and analysis) of all poems in the handout file is required, line by line; passages and quotations from critical texts demand careful reading and overall critical comment; students will also show their competence in discussing and comparing the relevant aspects ofall poetical and critical texts analysed during the course.
2. T.S. Eliot, The Waste Land
also: Gerontion (see handouts)
[close reading: detailed understanding and analysis]
3. J. Conrad, Heart of Darkness
[special attention will be paid to the narrative frame which opensand
punctuates the whole tale]
4. J. Joyce, Dubliners
[with special attention to features which, through style and themes, hold the stories together]
5. S. Beckett, Waiting for Godot
6. V. Woolf, A Haunted House, and Other Short Stories
− Any English editions of the works listed above may be used; students will have all primary texts with them when taking the exam, including their copy of the handouts, for exemplification and comment ofsignificant items and passages; other personal annotated material may also be produced and utilized −
Criticism
1. A. Hauser, The Social History of Art(1951), Vol. IV
− Chapter I, Naturalism and Impressionism
− Chapter II, The Film Age
2. Allyson Booth, Reading The Waste Land fromthe Bottom Up, London, Palgrave-
Macmillan, 2000
3. D.E. Chinitz,A Companion to T.S. Eliot, Oxford, Blackwell, 2009, pp. 145-156
− E. Brunner, “Gerontion”, The Mind of Postwar Europe and the Mind(s) of Eliot
4. H. Bloom(ed.)Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, (Bloom's Modern Critical
Interpretations), Infobase Publishing, New York, 2008 (pp. 1-36)
− Harold Bloom,Introduction
− Edward W. Said,Two Visions in Heart of Darkness
− Cedric Watts,Heart of Darkness
5. C. A. Culleton, E. Scheible, eds.,Rethinking Joyce’s, Dubliners, London, Palgrave-Macmillan, 2017 (pp. 1-32)
− Introduction. Claire A. Culleton and Ellen Scheible, Rethinking Dubliners:A Case for What Happens in Joyce’s Stories
− Claire A. Culleton, “The Thin End of the Wedge”:How Things Start in Dubliners
6. H. Bloom, ed., S. Beckett's Waiting for Godot (Bloom's Mod. Crit. Interpr.), 2008 (pp. 25-32)
− Martin Esslin, Introduction:The Absurdity of the Absurd
7. Jessica Berman, ed., A Companion to Virginia Woolf, Oxford, Blackwell 2016 (pp. 27-39)
− Laura Marcus, The Short Fiction
Please note
A general knowledge of the historical, cultural and literary background of the periods concerned (XVIII-XX centuries) is required, including crucial historical events and main literary works and authors; forgeneral reference see, for example:
- Andrew Sanders, The Short Oxford History of English Literature, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 2004
- Michael Alexander, A History of English Literature, London, Palgrave Macmillan, 2000
- Arturo Cattaneo, A Short History of English Literature (2 vols.), Milano, Mondadori, 2011, vol. 2
Nota Bene:Students who have not attended the lessons − or only partially −mustseeprof. Deidda, during office hours (see web page: ‘’Avvisi’), in order to receive the program and other specific information. Pleasebring a memory pen with you in order to obtain all available digital material concerning the exam.
Detailed information concerning dates of exams and enrolment procedures will always be found in pagina personale : Avvisi